Microsoft removes survey that forced you to answer why you're closing OneDrive
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
This is a zero win situation. Customers do not want telemetry on their system, so they tell Microsoft not to monitor user behavior. If Microsoft asks customers why they did something unexpected (like close OneDrive), people get upset that they are being surveyed. They do use focus-groups to get an idea of what users want, but I believe that the feedback is too course grained (low expertise and low sample size) and can be expensive to run.
Linux/Opensource seems to approach this differently, they provide you with multiple solutions and you try to figure out which one suits you best. However the community backlash (or the effort needed) for changing something can be high, so many projects tend to be conservative. The project stagnates and then gets forked, by someone who wants the change (scratching an itch). However, this leads to a lack of cohesion which can make the software burdensome to use.
That's not unexpected.
Very nice. I was told about this pattern when I was working on a web RTS. I was explained to me that many of the web "games" at the time would offer you virtual currency/gems/whatever when you try to leave.
I find it all very classy. I really should force my wife off windows. Her next laptop is going to run Linux no matter what. Even a Mac would be an improvement but sane configurations start at like 2000 euro.
You can keep using Windows all you want. Due to one little edge case. Fine.
I'd rather use the buggiest, shittiest window manager than put up with the user-hostility, the ads, the shit that gets installed without my permission, the settings that get changed back to Microsoft's defaults, these fucking surveys, the deception, lies and trickery.
On the other hand, anyone I know still using Windows is using it for gaming. And that includes professional developers, hobbyists, and students.
Saying this as a long time (~10y) Windows developer. Switched to MacOS / Linux around 5 years ago, wife and family using Linux or iPad.
Even though you'll have diehards that claim they haven't had any issues since X year. When I had KDE installed at the start of the year, I had bugs dealing with multiple monitors (apps wouldn't remember position if I had closed them on any monitor other than the left-most monitor). I had the UI crash repeatedly, issues transferring files using Dolphin (it would just simply hang on >500 files or if the files were large - it was fine if I used GNOME's file manager or the shell). I had slight issues getting wallpaper settings to stick. Shortcuts wouldn't always fire depending on how they were configured. The list goes on.
I firmly believe that the folks who don't have an issue with KDE are just exhibiting forms of Stockholm syndrome or have worked around issues automatically (forgetting that they exist). When you see issues crop up when users are switching, and you aren't having those issues- maybe the issue is that you've created a mental model that effectively works around those issues without you realizing it.
The solution isn't to blame the users having issues; rather, it's to take a hard look at what the problem is and realize maybe there is a real problem here.
Maybe because I never logged in with a Microsoft account?
OneDrive doesn't harass me or pop up anything. I forget it's installed half the time until I see the empty folder in the explorer tree view.
I don't see ads in my start menu or desktop.
Windows has been a pretty consistent experience from about 7 on up for me.
did you do the workaround to have a local user?
Just tried to open OneDrive to make sure I wasn't secretly signed in or something - nope, "OneDrive isn't signed in" popup.
I find Desktop syncing insanely annoying. Why would I want shortcuts synced across computers for programs I don't have installed?
Do you still have the widgets thing? By default it's a button on the taskbar and with a touch screen it's a left swipe. It's insanely easy to trigger on a tablet and you can't just disable that, just all gestures. That thing is loaded with ads.